MLU counts

[Hyams, Nina]

Thank you all for your input on MLU counts. I am aware of all the
difficulties in using MLU cross-linguistically from my early work on Italian
and English, languages with quite different morphological systems. What I
was interested in now was MLU as a measure within a single language with
very rich verbal inflection, one that has not been studied to my knowledge
-- Malagasy.

With respect to the issue of devising a valid cross-linguistic measure, it
is likely that any such measure will have to consist of several factors.
This was done by Kamil Ud Deen (University of Hawaii) in his UCLA
dissertation on acquisition of Nairobi Swahili. Kamil devised a composite
measure of linguistic development that consisted of 3 factors -- MLU, verbs
per utterance (suggested by Virginia Valian), and frequency of mono-syllabic
place holders (as per Bottari et al). He ranked his children on each
individual measure and then on all 3 measures together, which resulted in a
similar ranking, leading some credibility to the system. In such a system
the degree of morphological richness of the language will not weigh as
heavily. It might be worthwhile to try a system like Kamil's in other
languages to see whether it is reliable cross-linguistically.

Thanks again for all the advice.
Nina

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